The Latest: Thousands march to honor slain journalist

March 2, 2018

Policemen guard the entrance to offices of news website Aktuality.sk, the employer of the murdered investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, in Bratislava, Slovakia, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. Slovakia's top police officer Tibor Gaspar said the investigative reporter has been shot dead in his home in Velka Maca together with his girlfriend Martina Kusnirova. (Michal Smrcok/News and Media Holding via AP)

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — The Latest on the killing of a Slovak investigative journalist (all times local):

6:30 p.m.

Thousands of Slovaks are attending a national rally to honor an investigative journalist shot dead last week along with his partner.

President Andrej Kiska was one of those who attended a march in the capital. Similar marches are planned for some 25 towns and cities across the country.

Alongside the photos of the journalist, the people displayed banners saying “I am angry,” ″Mafia get out of my country,” and “An attack on journalists = an attack on us all.”

Other commemorative gatherings are planned in two dozen cities abroad, including London, Paris and Brussels.

The bodies of 27-year-old Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend, Martina Kusnirova, were found Sunday in their house.

Kuciak’s last, unfinished story was about the activities of Italian mafia in eastern Slovakia and their ties to people close to Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Franco Roberti said on Italian radio Friday: “We warned authorities in Bratislava, but unfortunately they didn’t heed us” about the ’ndrangheta syndicate’s expansion into Slovakia.

Roberti said the ’ndrangheta, based in southern Italy, might have killed investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his partner in Slovakia because “there was no other way to silence” him.

He said “corruption” of local officials plays a big role in the ’ndrangheta’s activity abroad.

The recently retired Roberti called it “an old story” that the ’ndrangheta, based in southern Italy, operates in Eastern Europe, Canada and elsewhere.

Roberti said 80 percent of the billions of euros the syndicate makes trafficking cocaine is invested outside Italy for laundering and making profits.

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1:30 p.m.

The secretary general of Reporters Without Borders has called on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to apologize for insulting journalists.

During a meeting with Fico in Bratislava, Christophe Deloire deplored what he called the “appalling climate for journalists” created by government leaders in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Fico has been known for his numerous attacks on the media.

Deloire said he took note of the government efforts to investigate the killings of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his partner Martina Kusnirova who were shot dead in their house last week.

But Deloire added: “We nonetheless think you should express regret and apologize for having insulted journalists on several occasions.”

In his last, unfinished piece, Kuciak was writing about the activities of Italian mafia in Slovakia and their ties to state officials close to Fico.

Deloire said it was Fico’s duty “to ensure that the justice system is able to convict (Kuciak’s) murderers, and a duty to protect journalists who investigate tax fraud and corruption.”

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12:45 p.m.

Slovaks are planning a national rally to honor an investigative journalist shot dead last week along with his partner.

The organizers said that 25 marches are planned Friday in Slovakia, including in the capital, Bratislava, at which President Andrej Kiska will attend.

Other commemorative gatherings are planned in two dozen cities abroad, including London, Paris and Brussels.

The bodies of 27-year-old Jan Kuciak and his girlfriend, Martina Kusnirova, were found Sunday in their house.

Kuciak’s last, unfinished story was about the activities of Italian mafia in eastern Slovakia and their ties to people close to Prime Minister Robert Fico.

The rallies are taking place amid calls for international experts to join the investigation and for Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, who was linked to corruption scandals in the past, to resign.